As students throughout Chicagoland begin preparing for the upcoming school year, more than 50 Comcast employees volunteered at Cradles to Crayons’ 9th annual Backpack-A-Thon at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena on Wednesday, July 31st. The Comcast volunteers were part of Team UP, which is the company’s 365-days-a-year effort to provide employees opportunities to get more involved in their local communities.
Comcast volunteers, alongside 700 corporate volunteers, helped pack 35,000 backpacks of brand-new school supplies – such as notebooks, folders, and writing utensils.
Gwendolyn McNutt
Regional External Affairs Manager at ComcastCradles to Crayons’ signature Backpack-A-Thon event is part of the organization’s Ready for Learning initiative, which will ensure 105,000 Chicago-area students receive a full set of school supplies before the year begins. Since 2016, Cradles to Crayons has led the charge to level the playing field for disadvantaged students so they can enter their new classroom with the same supplies and confidence as their peers.
Comcast was recognized with the event’s Golden Pencil Award for MVP (Most Valuable Pencil), which is awarded to the volunteering team that fully harness their partnership with Cradles to Crayons through continued engagement and collaboration. As a longtime community partner and supporter of Cradles to Crayons, Comcast is committed to being an active part of the communities it serves – which in Chicago, includes all 77 city neighborhoods.
Later this month, the 105,000 filled backpacks will be distributed by Cradles to Crayons to 60 partner organizations in the city, including Chicago Public Schools.
